lyricism defined [quotation + rubai]

The nature of the lyric is that it is restless and questing. This is what "lyrical" means and produces in matters of sound and tone and closure. A lyrical line veers from side to side, pauses, looks around and up, and continues until it finds a very temporary spot to breathe. It bounces against space. Then it continues again and often finds its way through a number of words that might contradict the meaning of the first lyric. At this level it doesn't matter if one has belief in one set of laws or another. It is faith in the footstep that counts.

      -- Fanny Howe

as quoted on the Lyricism Blog

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Riffing on same, a rubai:

restless and questing   possibly crazed
hosting or guesting   mostly amazed
any new vantage re-riddles the view
grieving or jesting   either way dazed

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Next, I notice Andrea Baker's "Lr" graphic (same source), hence this:

If lyricism's an element
            on a strange periodic table
is it volatile?   does it oxidize?
            is it solid-state and stable?
O does it meander all waywardly
            in a myriad transient spasms
through a ghostly cycling labyrinth
            in a beaker of frothy babble?

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And one more rubai (somewhat relatedly) --

The news that I seek seems not to be found
          who carries the news that I seek?
the sky whispers sky and the ground reports ground
          who carries the news that I seek?
each element mirrors a rumor it heard
      through the grapevine of life's causation
this circles and circles around and around
          but who's got the news that I seek?